Summit

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SUMMIT - PAGE 4

BRUSSELS: An attack by Germany's finance minister on other European Union states for "tossing around billions" signalled Berlin will not agree to spend more to revive the EU's economy at a summit starting on Thursday. Leaders of the 27-nation bloc want to agree at a two-day summit on a 200-billion euro ($260-billion) stimulus package to wrench the bloc out of recession, but Germany has resisted calls to contribute more from its budget to the rescue effort. EU leaders also aim to agree new rules for industry to tackle global warming and will study a plan by the French presidency to address Irish concerns over a treaty setting out reforms of the bloc, so that Dublin can hold a new referendum next year on a text which its voters rejected in June.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week, his spokeswoman said on Friday. Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit. "As he said himself, there is only one president at a time," she told reporters after Obama's first post-election news conference in Chicago. Earlier the White House confirmed it did not expect Obama to take a seat at the talks on November 15. "We are in communication and coordination with them.

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday kicked off the UN General Assembly's annual debate, calling for "global leadership" as he pressed world leaders not to pursue narrow national interests in the face of hard economic times. "I see a danger of nations looking more inward, rather than toward a shared future," he told a gathering of more 120 heads of state or government, including Presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Survive credit crisis 2008: Year of financial crisis US mortgage crisis WASHINGTON: President George W Bush will host a summit on November 15 in Washington, DC, area to discuss the global financial crisis and ways to prevent it from happening again, the White House announced on Wednesday. "This will be the first in a series of summits that bring together leaders from countries that participate in the G-20 finance process to discuss current economic challenges.

WASHINGTON: Just showing up counted for a lot. Leaders may have not quite rewritten the rules of global finance in a weekend. But they still accomplished much by just gathering in such large numbers _ both the older economic powerhouses and the newer fast-growing ones _ to grapple with the world's financial panic and pledging to work together to contain it. That rare show of unity, and a vow to work in the days ahead to better regulate global...

On Board The PM's Aircraft: Manmohan Singh strode on the red carpeted tarmac, climbed the stairs leading up to his private suite in the Boeing 747, waved back within a minimalist arc as he is wont to, and went in. He was 30 minutes late, but looked purposeful. As the captain announced departure we hoped the visit to the G20 summit in London will indeed serve some purpose. With the world reeling under the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, there's fervent hope that G20 leaders' April 2 summit will come up with a coordinated plan to pull the world out of the hole it's sliding into.

SEOUL: South Korea's new conservative President Lee Myung-Bak leaves Tuesday for a US summit aimed at strengthening the decades-old alliance following some friction under his liberal predecessors. In his first overseas trip as president, Lee will meet President George W. Bush at Camp David on April 18-19 -- the first Korean leader to be invited to the rustic presidential retreat. Lee's top diplomatic priority is the advancement of an alliance dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War, according to a government briefing paper, which terms it the "bedrock for peace and prosperity" in Korea and the region.

TOYAKO: US President George W. Bush was due in Japan on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the next steps in the North Korean nuclear dispute ahead of a summit of industrialised powers. Bush hoped to soothe Japanese anger at US easing of pressure on North Korea despite what Tokyo says is not a full accounting of Japanese citizens abducted by the Stalinist regime's agents, according to US officials. "I regard abduction as abhorrent behaviour," said Bush, who has moved to take North Korea off the US list of state terrorism sponsors in return for its partial accounting of its nuclear programmes.

MOHALI: Punjab, which has been projected as the best business destination at an investors summit here, has managed to ink 117 agreements with both domestic and overseas companies involving investments of over Rs 65,000 crore. "In last two days (of Punjab summit), we have Memorandum of Commitment, I have changed the word (MoU) Chief Minister (Parkash Singh Badal) has coined a new word Memorandum of Commitment (MoC)..., " state's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said.

KATHMANDU: Leaders of SAARC countries will discuss issues ranging from counter terrorism and peace and security in the region to agriculture and rural development along with poverty alleviation, food security and health, at the upcoming 18th SAARC summit in Nepal. Representatives from the eight member countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan,and Sri Lanka , along with observers from nine other nations will take part in the meet, Nepal's Foreign Minister Mahendra Pandey told reporters today on the eve of the summit which will be held from November 26 to 27. The summit will review progress made in implementing decisions taken during the previous SAARC summit and deliberate on reports prepared by different meetings held after the previous summit.